


Dance of Souls

by HazelGatoya



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Concubine wars are mentioned, F/M, Ghosts, Just adding it to my grand Archive collection, King Leon | Leo, Leo is so done, Noire and Gerome have different names, Old Work, Post-Canon, Post-Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, Same universe as Beautifully Broken, Stupid traditons, There were more than four royal siblings once, Welcome back to happy Nohr fun times after Hoshido won the war, dance lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelGatoya/pseuds/HazelGatoya
Summary: King Leo is unmarried and has no heirs. Despite the fact that he has only been ruling for three months, Nohrian tradition dictates that on the second day of autumn's first full moon, the Harvest Ball will be held. Eligible women will then fill Castle Krakenburg until the king is either married or produces a suitable heir.Needless to say, the king and his loyal circle are not happy about this, but see no choice but to make the best of this situation. Which means gritting their teeth and readying the castle while the king practices his dancing that until now, he has never had a use for.
Relationships: Gerome/Noire (Fire Emblem)
Kudos: 9





	Dance of Souls

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I probably should have posted this a long time ago, it's one of my best written little shorts description wise- but it's just been sitting in my work for a long time and I didn't have anything else finished, so it's this week's update to the Archive haha. I hope you do enjoy it, though.

There were no clouds over Nohr tonight. The full moon, orange and huge, gave light to the country that was normally black as pitch at this hour, even if the autumn air was still as freezing as ever.  
  
It was also, apparently, the reason that his wife was being kept by the king for dancing practice.  
  
Minerva poked her head over the stall at his sigh, and Gerald placed one gloved hand on her nose. "Nobles are a mysterious people, Minerva," he told her. "Something you probably already knew from all of your years of dealing with Virion." Amusement glowed in the wyvern's amber eyes. "Nohrian nobles are the most ridiculous of the lot, though. It's only been three months since King Leo took the throne, and they expect him to either be wed or have an heir?" The fact that those two were separate entities was ridiculous, too. The king had mentioned to Lanela that most Nohrian kings had a number of concubines, and this tradition that they were practicing dancing for probably had a lot to do with why.  
  
Minerva shook her head with a soft, derisive chuff. "They expect him to welcome nearly the entire young women population of Nohrian nobility into this castle. He'll meet them all at this Harvest Ball-" he didn't like to think of what that name meant- "And then they stay here until he is married. He's too busy for this."  
  
"Amen." Both wyvern and wyvern rider turned to see the king's advisor hobbling his way toward them. Gerald frowned at him, eyes taking in his heavily bandaged leg and hand in a cast once again. Odin had said that Laslow's injuries had been far worse before he and Lanela had come to Castle Krakenburg, but then, none of them had been good at sitting still. "I mean, I like women-"  
  
"We know."  
  
"But if I were in the king's position right now, I'd be annoyed too. Hello, Minerva." Laslow smiled at the wyvern, coming to a halt and leaning on his crutch. She chuffed at him, blowing a bit of hot air his way. "My, she doesn't look pleased."  
  
"She's telling you that you're an idiot and should be in bed," Gerald told him, crossing his arms. "That, or helping the king and Lanela with dance practice. I'm more for the first option."  
  
"Dance practice?" Laslow blinked. "Without me?"  
  
"We all share the opinion that you should be taking Odin's advice and staying in bed when the sun sets."  
  
"Yes, well." Laslow grimaced, brushing some of his gray and blue hair out of his face. It was beginning to return to its natural color now that the Silent Dragon was dead, though the process was definitely a gradual one. Anankos had obviously been very powerful to make the color stick for as long as it had. "My injuries are aching anyways, and I can't stay in bed after I've fallen asleep once that night. You get that."  
  
He did. Everyone that he'd fought with did. He inclined his head. "Then go help the king. Perhaps you can get Lanela out here before one in the morning."  
  
"I'll do my very best, old friend."  
  
  


"One, two, three-"  
  
"Do, not. Count. Out, loud," Lanela interrupted gently, her words kept in time with the imaginary beat they were dancing to.  
  
Leo gave a soft huff, turning with her carefully. "Waltzing never was my strong suit. I'm sorry to keep you so late like this, but-"  
  
She arched one delicate eyebrow, that small smile quirking at her lips. "Ee hee! I blame the nobles, sire." She looked back down at their feet-his feet really, hers were hidden under that dark green skirt. "You told them you were far too busy to be spending time with suitors and throwing balls and that was the truth. The only time that we could really practice your waltzing is this late at night."  
  
She nearly fell into him after he misstepped, and he sighed, pausing and letting go of her hand, stepping back. "Enough, enough for now. We'll pick up again in minute."  
  
She nodded, dark green eyes concerned as she gently reached up to brush some of his blond hair out of his face. Her hands were cold, but that was just the way of things. He didn't even flinch at her touch now, it was the one that he was used to, and it made sense, along with her quiet step and voice and how pale she was. What with her name... "It's difficult to dance well in such a setting," she remarked, tone somewhat rueful. "The moon is actually beautiful tonight."  
  
"Odin did say that the clouds would lift at sunset..." Leo shook his head. "But we can't exactly practice out in the gardens." Not with all of the servants and guards that he knew were still wandering about the grounds, even if in that case, they would have Gerald and Minerva for company. There were enough rumors about him and Lanela as it was, which was why there were in this ballroom that was cold despite being lit by torches. "This is the terrain I'll have to dance on for the actual event, so it really is best if we do it in here."  
  
"How very like you to phrase it as a tactical decision." Her brown feather earring and rust red curls listed to the side when she tilted her head, and he just shrugged. It was a war of sorts that he was still fighting, and he couldn't help but see everyone as a potential threat. Especially suitors that were being forced on him.   
  
The door creaked behind him, and he turned to see his advisor poking his head in, both eyebrows raised. "What are you doing down here? You shouldn't even be out of bed."  
  
"Yes, well, I've never been good at sitting still when injured," Laslow huffed, limping into the torch-lit ballroom, closing the door firmly behind him. "Not without ample distraction at least, and our mutual masked friend told me that there was dance practice happening without my supervision."  
  
"So you limped all of the way down to the wyvern stables to talk to Gerald only to turn around and come into the ballroom?" Leo shook his head while Laslow limped over to the raised area of the ballroom, the older man's crutch echoing dully around the room as it hit the ground. "I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I should choose someone else as my advisor instead."  
  
"Please note, sire, before you do so," Laslow began, lowering himself into sitting on the raised floor with a slight wince. Lanela hurried over to help him do so, taking his cane in one hand and helping support him with the other. "That _as_ your chief advisor, it is my duty to keep _you_ from making stupid decisions, not myself." He waved his left arm, which was in a cast, airily. "Also, I'm about as good at dancing as Odin is at practical medicine and coming up with ridiculous names for things, so if there was ever a time for me to properly advise, it would be now. I just can't demonstrate anything at the moment because I'm not quite _that_ stupid."  
  
"I should hope not." A slight smile tugged at Leo's lips, seeing the self-deprecation as what it was. He'd been seeing quite a bit of this sense of humor from Laslow ever since he'd come out of that two-day coma that had probably been induced by head trauma. Odin had turned out to be incredibly skilled at practical medicine, and even had some knowledge of how staves worked, since it had been under his direction that the maids of the castle had been able to heal his brother's former retainer to this extent. He'd walk normally again someday, and he was alive. That was more than could be said for Peri.  
  
"I was just telling the king that it's difficult to dance in such a cold setting without any sort of music." Lanela handed Laslow back his crutch, gently tousling his gray hair that stripes of dark blue were beginning to appear in. The same hair color that the demon Prince Takumi claimed as a retainer and wife had, and there was some situational irony in that, since she was the one who had nearly killed him.  
  
"That is a problem," Laslow agreed, and Leo shook his head slightly to try and get himself out of the past. He couldn't be in two places at once, yet his head seemed to think that he could be. Thinking back to the times that Elise and Xander were alive and recounting his failures. Wondering, if perhaps, he could have managed to stop any of it if his indecision hadn't kept him back from either stopping Corrin or siding with her. If he wanted to have sided with her, knowing what she and her _real_ family had been willing to do that day.   
  
None of his siblings would be having this issue if they were ruling. All of them had gone to balls except Elise, but she could do anything she set her mind to and truly enjoy it except for hurting others. Something he had never managed. "The only reason I've never had a problem with dancing anywhere is because I've always had my mother's songs stored in the back of my mind," Laslow continued, and Leo blinked, looking toward the two of them again. He hadn't even realized his gaze had drifted away...   
  
"That makes sense." Lanela nodded, and then she brightened. "Oh, do you remember that one song? She was always getting after Lady Maribelle for playing it too quickly on the violin, saying that it would be more effective at a slower tempo... or something like that."  
  
Laslow blinked, looked down for a moment, and then realization came onto face and he looked up at her and nodded. "Yes, yes I do. That song that settled as being from Chon'sin, but has been translated into most languages." A wistful smile came onto his face. "She said it had been passed down so many times that there could really be any interpretation of tempo, but she insisted that it was slower than what Lady Maribelle kept playing it at."  
  
"Do you remember the words to it?"  
  
"Hold," Leo began, noting with some consternation that there was a level of cautiousness in his voice. He was the king, he wasn't supposed to be uncertain in anything he did. It was so rare that all of the foreign retainers spoke of their homeland that he couldn't help but want to keep the conversation going before Lanela had whatever she had planned put into play. "Your mother sang, Laslow? Like... a songstress?" Like Azura, the only Hoshidan casualty that he could be bothered to feel badly about.  
  
"Well, no, she was a dancer," Laslow replied readily instead of letting the conversation drop like it usually did when talk of his homeland was pressed. "She had the same effect on troops in battle as a songstress, but her singing was never for the battlefield. It was for the quieter times, when the troops needed a pick me up. Lady Maribelle was a violinist and a good friend of hers. My father's best friend was her husband." His wistful smile grew a bit, and he looked down at the ornately tiled floor. "I don't remember the words, not really, Lanela. It's been too long... Maribelle never really picked up her violin again after my father died and her husband... well, you know what happened."  
  
"I do." Lanela held her hands close to her chest, her posture curving into something less confident, more defensive. Questions, burning things that they were, suddenly clawed their way into Leo's brain, but his own grief that he'd been carrying for the past two months blocked all of them from even wanting to be asked right now. Again, while he hated seeing his friends in pain, he thanked the gods that people who understood exactly what he was going through were by his side as his allies.   
  
They all looked up as the giant clock began chiming. Midnight. Not that him being awake at this hour was anything new, but it was normally Niles or Odin keeping him company. Laslow being out of bed after the sun went down hadn't been recommended by anyone with medical knowledge, and Gerald and Lanela were entitled to spending time together. They were married, after all. "I think we should get started again, then." Laslow looked back to Lanela. "Do you remember the words?"  
  
"Yes," she replied. "But you're much better at singing than I am... I can't help but think that I won't help the situation at all."  
  
"Always so pessimistic," Laslow tsked. "And you have a lovely voice, Lanela. I know the tune. I may remember the words if you start it off."  
  
"We can't possibly do worse than we have been," Leo told her as he walked over and offered her his hand. "Now, may I have this dance? I'll try to do it properly this time."  
  
She smiled, taking his hand, and he placed his other hand on her back as she placed her free hand on his arm. "A couple turns..." she told him. "I...I need to get up the nerve to start, and the bell's still tolling, and..."  
  
"I understand." He still didn't really understand how music would work wonders for his terrible dancing, but apparently Laslow was the expert here, and he'd agreed with her idea. They turned, the bell helping him keep rhythm until Laslow began tapping his cane on the floor, a soft _t-t-t-t-tap,_ along with other intervals of sharp, staccato rhythm that were completely different _._ This continued for a moment after the bell stopped, and then Lanela took a deep breath.  
  
" _In the span of time we live out our lives, calmness sweeps us off our feet. In the end, we're left with memories kept..._ " They kept turning, stepping forward, left, back, right. Only now it was easier as he focused on her voice. " _Locked away, as they spiral down and fade away from thee."_  
  
Back, forward, left and right. Her voice was soft, uncertain, just like when she spoke, but when she took another breath and began singing again, Laslow's powerful voice suddenly joined her. _"As for me, I'll sing the song of now, for that's all that I can do. Though my memories escape me, they're a part of my heart, just as I have thought of you._ "  
  
" _Al-a-re la-ye~"  
  
_Something flashed in Leo's vision as he and Lanela began moving more quickly, keeping in time with the music.  
  
 _"Al-a-re la-yo~"  
  
_And suddenly, they weren't the only two people dancing in this ballroom.  
  
 _"Al-a-re la-ya-a~"_  
  
They were faded, faceless in some cases, but he could see them, and he could hear the unmistakable sound of a violin playing...  
  
 _"Al-a-re ya..."_  
  
A flash of a see-through black sash that seemed to sparkle, a grand white cape, two golden crowns that sat in dark blue and pink hair. A dark coat, blonde ringlets, pink bows, orange hair and flashing dark eyes. Long black hair, blue sorcerer robes, a tall man with short, rust red hair. Pale blue hair tinged with pink-Peri. He could see her spinning by herself. Xander, strong and serious as he had always been, dressed in dark formal attire and leading a young woman with tousled, shoulder-length blonde hair and blue riding clothes through the steps of a waltz. Elise dancing in with three others he had done his best to not think about around others and then had spent so many nights remembering if only for their sakes. A voice, powerful and beautiful, harmonizing with Laslow's as Lanela's dropped away, the voice of a woman who knew the words and knew she was meant to sing them.  
  
" _Al-a-re la-ye~_ "  
  
Garrick was as blond as he had been in life, swinging dark-haired Melantha around as if nothing had ever happened between them, and she looked happier than she had ever seen her. She'd escaped her murderous mother in death, then...  
  
" _Al-a-re la-yo~"  
  
_And Lanela, the _real_ Lanela, as young and as pale and with the long red hair that reminded him far more of Selena's than the rust red of the woman he was dancing with, who he had given her name to, was dancing with Elise as well, turning and beaming at him. The dark brown eyes they shared bright. Gone because of him, but begrudging him nothing. Elise and Xander were smiling as well, and he could see now that it was her, the pink-haired, beautiful queen that was singing with Laslow.  
  
" _Al-a-re la-ya-a~,  
  
"Al-a-re ya..."  
  
_Their voices faded as the dancers did, leaving him and Lanela turning around the ballroom alone once again, but the echoes of the music were still there, and he moved with those for a while before pausing. Her cheeks were shining with tears, and he blinking, feeling that his cheeks were wet as well. "Did you..." he began, voice hoarse.  
  
"I saw it," she replied, reaching up to brush away his tears with her cold hand once again. A touch as soft and gentle and cold as his real younger sister's. "Some were clearer than others, but I saw them. See? You're not such a terrible dancer."  
  
"You're a natural at it, actually," Laslow remarked, and Leo turned to see that while the older man wasn't crying, his indigo eyes were definitely shining. "You just needed the right environment. No one's going to be terribly offended because you stepped on their delicate feet."  
  
Leo took a deep breath. That had been the purpose of this, of course, but he couldn't help but feel that he should do more. _No, you idiot,_ the soft voice in the back of his head that sounded like Corrin corrected him. _You_ want _to dance some more. You were having fun, and you'll have fun at the ball if you let yourself. You have to deal with them. If you enjoy the action of dancing instead of overthinking it, you'll manage to have fun without letting your guard down.  
  
_That... actually made sense. He nodded to Laslow and then turned to Lanela. "I suppose we're done here, then. Apologize to Gerald for me, would you?"  
  
"He understands," Lanela told him softly, and he knew that was true. That didn't stop him from wanting to apologize... made him want to more, in fact. He asked too much and gave too little in return... but that seemed to be the curse of kingship. A curse he was determined to break. "Goodnight, sire. Laslow." She curtsied, and then hurried out of the room, leaving the door open for the two of them.  
  
Leo walked over to Laslow, silently offering his hand while he used the other to wipe the rest of his tears off of his cheeks. A thousand questions still quietly smoldering in the back of his head as they always had been. "I think I would have liked your mother," escaped him before he could stop it, and he winced.  
  
Laslow just shook his head, smiling, eyes no longer bright with unshed tears. "Everyone liked my mother for one reason or another," he replied. "Most everyone liked my father as well." He leaned on his cane for a moment. "This is the first time I've seen them since I was young," he continued softly. "The first time I've done a duet with her." He smiled up at Leo again. "But I think that's enough about me and my family for tonight."  
  
"I would like to know about your homeland," Leo pressed as they left the ballroom. "I've asked Lanela, and she keeps telling me that I should ask either you or Odin."  
  
"She would say that." A knowing expression crossed Laslow's face, and he lifted his hand to his blue-striped gray hair. "Considering the circumstances... And I suppose there's no harm in telling you now. Odin and I are never going back."  
  
Leo was honestly scared to ask what they could even go back to. Perhaps Odin's family was alive and well, or Selena's, and tragedy had only struck Laslow. The majority of him doubted that, though. "I'll stop asking for tonight, then. And hopefully I'll be able to talk to you and Odin about it outside of business, even though most of my time is likely to be taken up by the circus."  
  
"Circus?" Laslow shook his head at him as they started up the stairs. With the warmth of the ballroom torches and the exertion from dancing gone, Nohr's usual cold temperature was beginning to make Leo shiver. "Your majesty, they're women. Their attention is hardly anything to be so derisive of." Leo snorted. "I could give you some flirting tips, then, since I don't believe you've ever dealt with noblewomen before in that regard."  
  
"If I particularly hate one and make her want to think twice about all she'll gain as queen by making her despise me, I may take you up on that."  
  
"I'm already wounded, sire!" Laslow exclaimed indignantly, but he was grinning, and Leo found that he was as well.  
  
"You need not stoop to that level, milord, it's a waste of your energy." Leo looked up to see Niles crouched at the top of the staircase, smirking. "Just send the unlucky lady to me and I'll take good care of her."  
  
"We're trying to stay civil here, Niles," Leo remarked dryly while stepping onto the second floor of the castle, and his retainer's smirk only grew as he stood up straight.  
  
"Gerald was right, being out of bed at this hour is only making my injuries worse." Laslow shook his head at the two of them. "I'll see you in the morning."  
  
"Night, Advisor," Niles replied flippantly while Leo nodded to him. Laslow pulled a face at Niles before limping off down the hall toward his chambers, and they went the opposite direction. Niles removed his black feathered cloak after a moment of silence, throwing it around Leo's shoulders. "It's good to see you smile again, Lord Leo," he spoke before Leo could protest. "And I've missed your wit. Perhaps this ancient stuffy Nohrian tradition is good for something after all, eh?"  
  
"Hardly." Leo shook his head, begrudgingly fastening the clasp to the cloak. He knew that Niles wouldn't accept it back from him until they were back in the warmth of his room. "Lanela and Laslow just made dance practice interesting is all. I think I may enjoy tomorrow's Harvest Ball, questionable though the company may be." Elise would have enjoyed it immensely, even knowing the occasion.   
  
A weight was lifted off of his head, and he blinked, looking back at Niles to see that he was holding the black crown. "No more of this tonight, I think," his retainer said firmly. "No more talk of stuffy noble insistences, the good of the country, or political ties. You're going to get some rest tonight instead of hovering over your desk."  
  
Leo tilted his head. How long had it been since Niles had dared to speak to him that way? His brain immediately gave the answer: not since that crown had first been put on his head. It was one thing to order a prince around, another entirely to order about the king. Niles's smirk was gone, and there was nothing teasing in his dark blue eye. A slight smile tugged at Leo's lips. "I can't just take that off as easily as that, Niles."  
  
"You are tonight. You'll need your strength for the changes to the castle tomorrow. As I said, I've missed that smile of yours. I don't want to see it go on account of a dozen suitors."  
  
The past and the present seemed to be blending somehow. Leo's entire childhood had consisted of a castle full of women who would coo over a prince or princess one minute and then snidely insult them the next. He was inviting that silent war back into the castle to keep the nobles happy, and try not to shatter the view of Nohr Proper any more than the alliance with Hoshido already had. Perhaps this was how his father had met Xander's mother, and the other women had just... stayed.   
  
_Not this time. Never again. No concubines, no concubine wars._ Getting married was the last thing on Leo's mind, and if this silent war came to nothing and they stayed until he died without an heir, so be it. He was not making the same mistake as his father. There would only be one queen. "Fine," he replied to Niles's demand. "But just for tonight." It was what Elise and Xander would want, and though he had left them and the other three siblings down in the ballroom, he could still feel their presence like a warmth in his chest, a warmth that only grew when Niles smiled at his response.  
  
They would be there tomorrow. He knew that they would be, to give him strength. It was as Lanela had told him once, the dead never truly left if they were remembered. "Tonight's enough." They continued down the hall in silence, the crown remaining in Niles's hands.


End file.
